The Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) has recently awarded a voucher to Curio Solutions to support the development of the company’s new recycling process for spent nuclear fuel. The voucher provides access to the research capabilities and expertise at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to help advance their project.
Curio Solutions, based in Washington, D.C., will work with INL to gather fundamental electrochemical data needed to support its NuCycle electrolysis process – so that it will meet international safety and security standards and eventually be capable of generating products that can be recycled into new fuel for nuclear reactors.
The company is assessing technologies for potentially recycling spent nuclear fuel in the United States to close the fuel cycle of the nation’s current fleet of nuclear reactors.
GAIN voucher recipients do not receive direct financial awards. The vouchers provide funding to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories to help businesses overcome critical technological and commercialization challenges. All awardees are responsible for a minimum 20% cost share, which could be an in-kind contribution.
GAIN was established by DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy and provides the nuclear community with the technical, regulatory, and financial support necessary to move innovative nuclear technologies toward commercialization, while ensuring the continued, safe, and economic operation of the existing fleet. The company envisions a world where the US is an energy exporter and a supplier of nuclear energy next-generation radioisotopes and nuclides.
